I have never actually seen this musical, but I'm somewhat familiar with it. You're correct that it ends with the crucifixion, so that is odd and I hadn't thought of that. But then, the purpose of the show isn't to give an accurate or complete retelling of the Biblical narrative (it's full of intentional anachronisms) its focus is on interplay between the characters leading up to Jesus' death. Including the resurrection would sort of undercut the intent I think. But with that in mind it would have been more appropriate to do this a little earlier, maybe on Palm Sunday like Fox did. Even though their show did include the resurrection.

It's more like ALW's version of Jesus death, so he did what he wanted to do. You can obviously see the atheistic leaning as you never see any miracles, really... My family watched most of it and it was my first time seeing the musical, though my brother was obsessed with the songs at one point in time. I thought it was interesting... The grunge look seemed to really fit the story for some reason. It's a very random musical from what I saw, but maybe it's because every one knows the story so this is just a collection of musical monologues. One interesting part, was that Jesus hugged Judas after he was betrayed. It was something to think about... Especially since at that time none of the disciples were with Jesus, so it was kind of Jesus' last moment of physical affection-and it was to the betrayer.

If you haven't seen this at all, you need to at least see the ending scene of Jesus' crucifixion. It was one of the most incredible scenes I've ever seen before...its just. Go watch it.

This was great! I loved it! I'd been wanting to get around to seeing this show, I'm glad I finally got an opportunity and it was a production that was so well done.

I actually was really unsure how much I would like it because I knew this is a very particularly stylized show that has things that will either work for you or just seem completely bizarre and if you don't get the, I don't know if you'd really call it symbolism, but the idea behind why something was depicted the way it was you have to be able to just roll with it and not get hung up on it. I was very pleased to find that nearly everything really worked for me, and in the few parts that didn't I was still able to get what they were trying to do with it so even though they didn't completely land with me personally I appreciated them in that regard.

For particular highlights, I'd have to say any scenes with the priests. Their songs were the catchiest, they were good singers, their costumes were awesome, and the feeling their presence gave was perfect. I felt like I could almost tangibly sense conniving, slimy vibes coming through the screen. Also, Judas was a great singer and really made you feel the various emotions he went through over his story. And the ending! Just wow. What a visual.

This production was extremely well done though extremely different from anything NBC, or really any of the networks had done before. This was really unique. NBC's previous shows have been stage versions of musicals, but without an audience. And not necessarily put on as a traditional stage show, like it would have been all on one stage, there were sets. Stage type sets, if you know what I mean, but it was across multiple locations, it wasn't something you would sit down and watch in person, it was very much produced for tv. When Fox did Grease it was on location and with an audience, but that was fully immersive it was absolutely not a stage show. NBC followed this format with their next show, Hairspray. Then Fox did The Passion which was sort of the closest so far to this, but still substantially different because that wasn't actually a show, it was pretty much just a concert. Live audience before singers on a stage, but they were just standing there singing. This was a legitimate live stage production. The tv saw what the live audience saw, well a little more because of camera angles and access, but the point is everything was right there. One set space on the stage, a genuine musical show you would go see in person.

The show itself was unlike anything from before also. It's entirely sung. I actually didn't realize this while watching, only reflecting back after it ended. There is no dialogue, it's a constant string of one song after another. You get a clear narrative from it though and the repeating lyrical themes connect points and ideas really effectively.

I'm not sure how the stage show has been all along, like maybe it has evolved over the years, but this had a much different look and feel than the movie version did from way back in the day. In a good way.

I haven't checked, but hopefully its on Hulu. I think these things usually are. I'd like to watch it beginning to end because like I said I was kind of in and out and didn't see all of it, totally missed the ending.

This is definitely very different than the movie. First that was on location, it wasn't just filming the stage production. But as you say the whole feel is different, and I agree it's different in a good way here. I want to see the movie eventually to compare, but I'm quite sure I won't like it nearly as much as I liked this version.

The whole NBC show can be watched for free right now on the website but likely just for a limited time.

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